It is well known that physically impaired individuals with such disabilities as spinal cord injury, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy or arthritis need the assistance of a power driven wheelchair to be mobile. Power driven wheelchairs, which may be of the type manufactured by Invacare Corporation of Elyria, Ohio, for example, generally include right and left side drive wheels driven by a motor controller via respectively corresponding right and left side drive motors, all of which are disposed on the wheelchair. A user can control, for example, the speed and direction of movement of the wheelchair, by manipulating a controller.
Power driven wheelchairs are generally controlled by an electronic control system. An exemplary control system for power or motor driven wheelchairs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,981, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Setting Speed/Response Performance Parameters of a Power Driven Wheelchair,” issued Nov. 16, 2004, and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application, which patent is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Typically, the power driven wheelchairs have a plurality of drive settings corresponding to different types of operation of the wheelchair by the user. An exemplary wheelchair may include four drive settings which may be Drive 1 (D1) for indoor operation, Drive 2 (D2) for moderate outdoor operation, Drive 3 (D3) for special operation, and Drive 4 (D4) for ramps and curbs. For each drive setting, there are numerous performance and power seating parameters which are programmed into the control system to satisfy the operational capabilities of the individual user of the wheelchair. The programming task is normally conducted through a hand held programmer unit having an interactive display and coupled to the control system much as described in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,981, for example.
Additionally, power driven wheelchairs generally include user support surfaces for supporting a user while in the wheelchair. For example, a seat mounted on the wheelchair forms a user support surface for the user to sit on. A seat back forms a user support surface for the user's back. A pair of arms and a pair of legs may be mounted on the wheelchair to form user support surfaces for the user's arms and legs, respectively.
The position of these user support surfaces can be adjusted to increase the user's comfort. For example, by manually moving the aforementioned controller, the user can adjust the angle of the seat back relative to the seat based on the user's preference. The user must, however, continue to manipulate the controller to place a user support surface in a position desired by the user. Furthermore, the user must again manipulate the controller when changing the user support surface from one position to another. Additionally, the user is required to remember, or rediscover each time, the ideal position of the user support surfaces for performing a particular task. Thus, changing the position of the user support surfaces is often time-consuming and inconvenient to the user.